Commercial manufacturing processes often involve the use of particulates which are embedded in a mixture. One example would be brake pads for vehicles in which particulates of high friction material are embedded in a supporting material. In some cases the particulates will not naturally bond to the supporting material so that it is necessary to coat the particulates with an intermediate material which is compatible with both the particulates and the supporting material to facilitate bonding.
Apparatus exists for coating particulates in which particulates are mixed with liquid in a mixing chamber to coat the particulates and the resulting wet mixture is conveyed to a drying station to be dried. A problem with this process is that the particulates tend to agglomerate when coated with the liquid resulting in wet mixtures which are difficult to transport from the mixing chamber to the drying station. It would therefore be advantageous to be able to handle such materials in one location where the materials are first mixed to coat the particulates and then dried for subsequent handling.
Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to provide an improved apparatus for coating particulates with a liquid, and then drying the resulting wet mixture in the same location. It is also an object of the invention to produce apparatus capable of coating and drying consecutive batches of material in a continuous or automatic process.